Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof



President Obama took part in Small Business Saturday by heading over to Politics and Prose, a locally-owned bookstore in Washington, D.C.

---

Health Care Website Website Fixes On Target - “With the scheduled upgrades last night and tonight, we're on target to meet our stated goal to increase capacity and for the site to work for the vast majority of users,” Aaron Albright, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services director of media relations, told The Hill in an email on Saturday.

Officials will brief reporters on progress during a conference call on Sunday morning. TheHill.com has more here.

---

Eye on 2016, Clintons Reach Out to African Americans - Since Mrs. Clinton left the secretary of state post in February, she and her husband have sought to soothe and strengthen their relationship with African-Americans, the constituency that was most scarred during her first bid for the presidency. Five years after remarks by Mr. Clinton about Barack Obama deeply strained the Clintons’ bond with African-Americans, the former first family is setting out to ensure that there is no replay of such trouble in 2016.

Mrs. Clinton used two of her most high-profile speeches, including one before a black sorority convention, to address minority voting rights — an explosive issue among African-Americans since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Actin June. A month after Mr. Gray’s funeral, Mrs. Clinton and her husband both asked to speak at the service for Bill Lynch, a black political strategist who is credited with the election of David N. Dinkins as mayor of New York, and stayed for well over two hours in a crowd full of well-connected mourners. And there have been constant personal gestures, especially by the former president.

“I think that this is an effort to repair whatever damage they felt may have been done in ’08,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton “know that there are some who have lingering questions, if not antipathy, towards them,” Mr. Sharpton said.  The NY Times has more here.

---

Iran, World Powers to Meet on Details to Implement Nuclear Deal - Envoys of Iran and six world powers will meet next week to start working out steps to implement a deal under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear program in return for some respite from sanctions, a top Iranian negotiator said.

The landmark November 24 interim accord between the Islamic Republic and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain is seen as a first step towards resolving a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a new Middle East war.  Reuters.com has more here.

---

Please donate today to Frederick Politics by clicking on a Donation Button in the right hand margin of page - Thank You!